Transparent lasting machine wipers



Jan. 16, 1962 R. M. BOWLER ETAL 3,016,551

TRANSPARENT LASTING MACHINE WIPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 23, 1960 lnverz tors Raymond [7.Bow/er Dona/0L1.- Bray Jan. 16, 1962 R. M. BOWLER ETAL 3,

TRANSPARENT LASTING MACHINE WIPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 23, 1960 United rates Patent TRANSPARENT LAS'HNG MACHINE WIPEES Raymond M. Bowler, Salem Depot, N.H., and Donald L.

Bray, Beverly, Mass, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N..l., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Nov. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 71,232 Claims. (Cl. 12-42) This invention relates to mechanism for shaping the uppers of footwear, and more particularly to the provision of improved wipers for wiping inwardly over the bottom of a last the margins of an upper of a shoe to be lasted. Although the invention is herein illustrated as applied to a pair of wipers mounted for operation in a machine adapted to perform a pulling over and forepart lasting operation on shoes to be cement lasted while supported in bottom down position, it is to be recognized that the invention is not thus limited in use either as to the type of lasting machine, the particular construction or shoe portion to be lasted, or the position of the shoe during lasting.

The initial positioning of an upper on its last prior to actual lasting has long been appreciated, together with shaping and style factors in the upper itself, as contributing heavily to the quality of construction and final appearance of every shoe. Thus considerable skill and care on the part of an operator is normally relied upon in first locating an upper on its last and then in positioning the upper and its last with respect to lasting instrumentalities. Extra precaution is warranted, for instance, in centering and straightening a forepart relatively to a last having a narrow or needle pointed toe in order to insure that adequate and fairly uniform width of lasting margin is available to be secured properly in overlasted position. Unfortunately, due to the crowding of mechanism and the pressure of increasing production, upper positioning is often the subject of considerable guess work. In many machines wherein shoes are presented in bottom up position to be lasted, an operator may have the benefit of earlier upper positioning judgment by a so-called pulling over operator and the laster may be able readily to see that corrective upper positioning is not required, or the lastcr may find that he cannot properly rely on the pulling-over positioning and that numerous lasting instrumentalitics obscure his view in critical areas now needing revised upper positioning. While it is contemplated that the improved Wipers of this invention may have advan tage in such machines, it is expected that our novel wipers will find greater use in upper shaping machines in which shoes are operated upon in bottom down position and especially when the pulling over operation is combined with lasting. A reason for this, hereinafter further explained, is that in employing these latter upper shaping machines, the usual wipers (being invariably solid metal plates and hence entirely opaque except for those formed with small holes near the wiping edges for receiving fasteners and fastener drivers) would normally initially overlie the outspread margins to be lasted and embrace the feather edge of the last, thereby blocking marginal edges of the upper from view, but by the use of our improved Wiper construction the position of the marginal edges remains easily visible to the operator even though our improved wipers have assumed a position to commence inwiping.

In view of the foregoing it is a primary object of this invention to provide, in a machine for shaping an upper of a shoe on its last, a wiper for wiping the lasting margin of the upper inwardly over the bottom of the last, the wiper having a wiping surface transparent at least in part to afford an operator visibility of the profile edge Eire of the margin when the wiper is in initial operating position. To this end a feature of the invention resides in the provision of an improved wiper having a window or slot remote from its inner wiping edge to permit the passage of light therethrough and past the edge of the lasting margin to be wiped, the walls of the slot bearing transparent window pane material in the plane of the wiping surface of the wiper initially to enable the marginal edge to be seen, and the material acting thereafter together with opaque portions of the wiping surface to perform an inwiping of the margin. A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a slotted lasting wiper having transparent, heat conductive wiping material substantially filling the slot, the material being scuff and fracture resistant for providing a smooth wiping surface for viewing a margin to be wiped and capable thereafter or" exerting a bedding down pressure while conducting heat from the Walls of the window pane slot for the purpose of activating lasting adhesive.

The above and other features of the invention will now be more particularly described in connection with an illustrative embodiment and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an upper portion of a machine for shaping uppers over lasts and showing our novel wipers in open inoperative position and associated lasting instrumentalities;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the wipers shown in FIG. 1 in initial operating position preparatory to inwiping with respect to an upper to be lasted;

PEG. 3 is a section taken on the line iil-lll of FIG. 2 indicating the mounting of transparent wiper material in an opaque wiper, and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a modified form of wiper having a plurality of circular, staggered windows.

The upper shaping machine selected to be shown in part herein by way of exemplifying this invention is more fully described and claimed in a pending application Serial No. 788,396, filed January 22, 1959 in the names of Rockwell and Mitchell. As there illustrated, an upper U (FIG. 2) mounted on its last L is presented to the lasting instrumentalities of the machine in bottom down position for combined pulling-over and forepart lasting operations. The instrumentalities comprise, in addition to suitable means for supporting a last and for moving it heightwise, a pair of novel main wipers It fit} herein shown as being shaped initially to embrace the feather edge of the last by extending substantially from the ball region on one side, around the toe end, and to a corresponding region on the other side of the last. These Wipers desirably are adapted to be heated by suitable means (not shown), are detachably mounted as customary to permit substitution of other wipers for operating on other styles and sizes of shoes, and they are for the most part of heat conducting, opaque material, preferably a metal and herein shown in substantially planar form. While the Wipers it? are adapted to wipe the lasting margin of an upper widthwise in a plane substantially parallel to the bottom of the forepart of the last and inwardly over an insole mounted on the bottom of the last, and hence are herein shown as being designed to execute pivotal closing movement about a point located in the vicinity of the toe end of the upper and the last, it is to be understood that in its various aspects this invention is not restricted to articulated wipers nor to lasting wipers of any particular shape. The Wipers when in their initial, open position, overlie other lasting instrumentalities including, in this case, a toe end dstributor 12 (FIGS. 1 and 2) for locating the last toewardly, arcuate distributors M, 14 arranged one at each side of the toe distributor, side distributor grippers 16, 16, and ball grippers 18, 18.

Preliminary to actuating the wipers it) or exerting control of the upper by any other means, it is important to obtain quality lasting that the upper be centered and strai htened upon its last, that the lasting margins of the upper including its lining if any be properly flared or outspread from the feather edge of the last, and that the margins be disposed to be first gripped or correctly engaged by the lasting instrumentalities. Attempting to operate lasting machines in this manner has imposed operator concern and tended to reduce production. In preparing to use a machine of the Rockwell et al. type, for instance, an operator should take care that the outspread margin of the upper extends above the toe end distributor 12 and above the arcuate distributors 14, 14, but between the jaws of the respective grippers 16, 16 and l8, 18. Chief reasons why the operator is impeded at this stage are the necessarily restricted spaces between crowded machine parts, and the further fact that hitherto his view of the upper outwardly from the feather edge of the last has, it not entirely, been almost completely masked by metallic or wholly opaque wipers which, in the illustrative machine as previously constructed, initially obstruct his view of the retarders, grippers or other lasting tools. In these circumstances the present invention by means about to be explained attains proper shaping by eliminating guess work and facilitating manipulation of the upper, and insures more uniform lasting margins, points especially critical in the narrow or pointed toe styles.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 each wiper lid is formed preferably in the vicinity of the toe end of the upper, and at corresponding locations lengthwise of the last, with a pair of windows of selected shape such as slots 2%, 20 arranged to extend transversely of the profile edge of the initially outspread upper. These slots are of a width and spaced so as to allow the operator at a glance to view the marginal edge and contour of the upper and adjacent lasting instrumentalities, in this case the arcute distributors 14, 1'4, and the gripper jaws 16, 16. He is thus enabled confidently to centralize the upper on its last and make required adjustments in the positioning of the unlasted margin without resorting to trial and error wiping.

An additional advantage in having wiper window visibility is particularly appreciated at that inspection stage of a lasting cycle prior to inward wiping when, for instance, the upper has been given a forward draft and tensioned and/or wiped heightwise. At this time it is very helpful to the operator to observe that the instrumentalities are in correct relative position and that, if a margin has prematurely slipped from jaws or stretched unduly, the condition will be detected and corrected at once to eliminate any unwanted wrinkles.

While satisfactory lasting of the materials of some uppers may be accomplished with operator visibility by merely providing open perforations in wipers, it is found that such wipers are not generally advantageous in that, in addition to marring an upper by reason of the scraping action of the walls of the holes during wiping, application of bedding down pressure results in portions of the lasted margin not being acted upon and the edges of such holes effect an undesirable imprint on the shoe bottom. The slots 20, 2t? accordingly are preferably formed to carry transparent work-engaging material 22. This window pane material is selected to be soullresistant in order that it may continue to afford good visibility, and is of strength capable of exerting bedding down pressure. The material 22 may be of a suitable plastic, for instance, or of glass or glass composition. As herein shown the material is a molded glass and the walls of the slots are undercut, as indicated in FIG. 3, to receive and securely hold it in operative position. Advantageously, too, the material it? is a good heat conductor (for instance of the type commercially available under the name Pyrex) and hence adapted to carry heat from congruent, opaque heated wiper zones to the mar gin being lasted. An advantage in forming the walls with an undercut is to allow for differences in the coetlicients of expansion in the transparent and opaque wiper materials thus insuring a tight fit of the parts when heated and maintaining the wiping surfaces of these materials substantially coplanar. As indicated in FIG. 4 use of an alternate form of wiper 2.4 is at times advantageous, a plurality of circular, undercut windows 26 being arranged in either a single or a double row. The staggered arrangement shown increases visibility without unduly weakening the wiper. A circularity of shape is normally found advantageous over an elongated slot in that design allowance for diiference in coefficients of expansion between the opaque and transparent materials is easier made thus assuring better window pane fit; circularity also aids in obtaining a more even distribution of pressure on the transparent material. Preferably the diameter of each circular window is not less than Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a lasting machine having lasting instrumentalities, a wiper for wiping an upper on its last, said wiper having a work-engaging surface which is transparent at least in part to facilitate viewing of the upper when presented to the machine and hence relative positioning of the unlasted margin of the upper with respect to the last and said instrumentalities.

2. In a lasting machine, lasting instrumentalities including a wiper for wiping the lasting margin of an upper widthwise of the bottom of its last, said wiper having a work-engaging surface which is transparent at least in part as viewed in a direction normal thereto to facilitate initial positioning of the profile of the unlasted margin of the upper with respect to its last and with respect to the lasting instrumentalities prior to the wiping operation.

3. A lasting wiper opaque in the vicinity of its inner wiping edge and transparent in work engaging portions remote from that edge and overlying the profile of a margin to be lasted.

4. In a machine for shaping uppers of shoes, a pair of wipers mounted for closing movement to wipe the outspread lasting margin of an upper on a last inwardly over the last bottom, at least one of the wipers having a window opening admitting the passage of light transversely of the edge of the margin to be lasted, and a transparent material in said opening formed substantially flush with the wiping surface of the wiper.

5. A machine as set forth in claim 4 and further characterized in that the openings in the wipers are respectively formed as a slot, both of the slots being correspondingly arranged to extend widthwise of the margins to be lasted, and the transparent material in each slot is adapted to permit an operator to see and gage the edges of these unlasted margins at points oppositely spaced from the last.

6. In a machine for lasting an upper of a shoe in bottom down position on its last, the combination of means for engaging marginal portions of the upper initially to tension it heightwise, and a wiper for wiping the marginal portion of the upper inwardly over the bottom of the last, said wiper having portions located inwardly of its wiping edge transparent to facilitate inspection of the position of the lasting margin of the upper covered by the wiper, relatively to the edge of the last bottom and to said tensioning means prior to the inward movement of said wiper.

7. In a machine for shaping an upper over a shoe in bottom down position on its last, a wiper movable widthwise of the shoe to wipe the unlasted margin of the upper inwardly over an insole on the last and then relatively movable heightwise to apply a bedding down pressure on the lasting margin, and means initially cooperative with the wiper releasably to clamp the unlasted margin prior to the inward wiping operation, said wiper having transparent work-engaging portions in the vicinity of said means to enable an operator to sight and locate the margin with respect thereto.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 6 and further characterized in that the Wiper comprises opaque wiping zones adapted to be heated to facilitate its bedding down operation, and said transparent work-engaging portions are constituted of a material congruons with said zones, scuff resistant, and capable of conducting heat from said zones to the overlasted margins whenin bedding down position.

9. In a machine having instrumentalities for shaping the upper of a shoe on its last in bottom down position, a pair of partly transparent wipers cooperative with the instrumentalities and formed initially to embrace the feather edge of the last substantially from the ball area on one side, around an end of the last, to the ball area on the other side, each of the wipers being formed in the vicinity of one of said instrumentalities with undercut wali portions adapted to receive window pane material overlying the margin of the upper to be wiped.

1.0. A machine as set forth in claim 8 wherein the respective wipers are formed with at least one row of circular openings, each having a diameter of not less than the openings being adapted to carry panes of molded transparent material congruouis with opaque work-engaging areas of the wipers.

No references cited, 

